Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I began teaching math at First Lutheran's summer program last week.As one of my ice breakers, I thought it would be fun to do a little math "mind reader" game with them.Let's see if it works on you:

As quickly as you can, add these problems mentally:

1+1=2+2=3+3=4+4=5+5=6+6=7+7=8+8=9+9=10+10=

Now, quick! What's the first vegetable that comes to mind?

If you answered carrot, you're among the 95% or so of Americans who think this way. I thought it would be fun if I could "read the minds" of my students and impress them by knowing they would answer carrot.

Well, not in this little town.

Sometimes, I forget that I'm in the minority around here.

When I asked them to tell me what vegetable first popped into their minds, the number one answer I got was "cabbage." The runner up was kimchi. Does that even count as a vegetable?

2.Brush salmon fillets on both sides with 1/4 cup butter, and sprinkle evenly with the cayenne pepper mixture. Drizzle one side of each fillet with 1/2 remaining butter.

3.In a large, heavy skillet over high heat, cook salmon, butter side down, until blackened, 2 to 5 minutes. Turn fillets, drizzle with remaining butter, and continue cooking until blackened and fish is easily flaked with a fork.

2.Brush salmon fillets on both sides with 1/4 cup butter, and sprinkle evenly with the cayenne pepper mixture. Drizzle one side of each fillet with 1/2 remaining butter.

3.In a large, heavy skillet over high heat, cook salmon, butter side down, until blackened, 2 to 5 minutes. Turn fillets, drizzle with remaining butter, and continue cooking until blackened and fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Someone asked me today if I had ever gone to The Brandin' Iron, and I had to laugh. My one and only trip to to The Brandin' Iron is something I don't often think about these days, but I still crack up when it comes to mind.

Have I ever gone to The Brandin' Iron? Yes, I have.Have I ever been in The Brandin' Iron? Noooooope.

My roommate sophomore year of college decided that she wanted to go to The Brandin' Iron for her 21st birthday. She made quite the elaborate affair out of it! All 20 or so of her guests were driven there in style--in a Hummer limo. She told me before we left that she was planning on drinking a lot, and didn't want to be responsible for her wallet "just in case."

My purse way back then was tiny (which is hilarious because now I nearly carry a suitcase!) and there wasn't room for both her wallet and mine. You can laugh about my precious innocence, but 18 year old me simply thought, "I'm underage, I'm not going to be buying any drinks. I don't need my wallet tonight."

So I left it in my dorm.

An hour and a half later, when our fancy-schmancy Hummer showed up at the front of The Brandin' Iron, I realized the dilemma.

The bouncers wouldn't let anyone in without an ID. Uh oh.

I assured them that I wouldn't drink, I pleaded with them, I even told them to just brand me with black Xs.

(side note funny story: the only other time I had been in a bar before this time had been to see my friend Liana's band perform on stage. The bouncers there put big, black, permanent marker Xs on my hands. 5 types of soaps and two showers later, they were still glaringly black on my hands the next day when my grandparents came to Concordia to see how their oldest grandchild's first month of college was going!)

These guys held their ground though, and nothing I said could dissuade them from the fact that I needed an ID to enter the building. Now, I had a real problem. I was an hour and a half from school, without a car, and I knew there was nothing that was going to keep my roommate from getting plastered that night.

Thankfully, my friend Emily Jones was also at the party, and she volunteered to keep me company. The neighborhood around The Brandin' Iron is pretty seedy...the only good reads in the area are found in the Adult Novelty shop across the parking lot. Thinking we were going to have to tough it for the night, Emily and I went over to a bench and sat down. Our limo driver saw us, though, and asked us if we'd like to sit in the Hummer. God bless him!

You'd think this would be a bad memory...getting left out of a party because I was too naive to know that you had to bring an ID to a bar with you. But actually, it's a really good memory. It was there in the back of that huge limo, while Emily and I were stretched out across the seats on either side, that our conversation drifted to boys...and we started talking about that cute blond guy that played sax in our band. She said she did like him (even though he had been very attentive to me lately, I had been hanging back because I was pretty sure Emily had her eye on him) but that actually, she was really falling for this other guy named John.

I remember being filled with the happiest feeling realizing that one of my closest friends was not in love with that handsome Jesse Brubaker, and that he was free for the taking!

Yeah, I missed out on an evening of line dancing at The Brandin' Iron, and maybe that would have been a lot of fun, but when the birthday party crowd began stumbling into the limo, queasy and impaired, I was thankful that I had missed out on whatever had happened inside.

And, in the darkness of the ride home, I smiled to myself knowing that the next time I saw Jesse, I didn't have to worry about hurting my friend's feelings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emily and John have been dating for 5 years now, and just became engaged last month. It's turned out pretty well for all of us, hasn't it? :-)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I'm hiding out from our Jr. High youth group right now. I was here with them during Bible study, and let me tell you, they are one crazy bunch! I love being here with them, creating friendships, hanging out with them, and getting to know them, but every week (at least once) I whisper a prayer of thanks that this is Jesse's job and not mine!

He just took them up to the field to let some of their energy out, and since it's 6pm and still 90* outside (not to self, time to begin my annual tradition of bugging Jesse to move before it gets too hot!), I am very happy to stay inside and keep cutting out the paper birds we're using for our 4th VBS craft project tomorrow.

Days 1, 2, and 3 have gone off without a hitch, and that's been a big blessing! Jesse and I are SO exhausted, though. We've been home from our vacation for nearly a week, and besides the...11 or so loads of laundry I did on Saturday, we haven't cleaned up or unpacked. Each night when we get home, we just crash. This week is completely wiping us out!

Jesse is the director of VBS, and I'm in charge of all of the craft projects we're doing. I love the job, buyt it's a challenge! The VBS program we use is happy to sell us all of their pre-assembled craft kits for an arm ad a leg, so I've been doing my best to adapt them and so that we can make them ourselves. They've actually turned out really cool. The one we made yesterday was a big hit--one of the boys told me he was "going to take it with [him] on every vacation for the rest of [his] life!"

I have to take a break from cutting, though, because I've been cutting out detailed cardstock parrots for the past 1 1/2 hours, and I'm developing a blood blister from the scissors!

So I thought I'd share a funny moment from today:

Today's VBS lesson was talking about the Apostle Paul and his missionary trip to Malta when he was bitten by a snake. The theme for today was Surprises, so I began my time with each group by asking them about surprises.

"Do you guys like surprises?" I'd ask, and let a few of them volunteer to share some of their favorite surprises. Then I'd remind them that not all surprises were good (like when Paul was bitten by surprise). I shared a story from my childhood."When I was a little girl, around 8 years old, I was getting ready for bed one night. I put on my pajamas, brushed my teeth, and went to my bedroom. The light was out, but since I knew the way to my bed, I didn't turn it on--I just walked through my room in the dark. Just as I was about to climb into bed, my dad, who had been hiding underneath my sheets, popped out and surprised me. I did not like that surprise! It scared me and I started to cry. Sometimes, we don't like surprises, do we? And I'll tell you one thing, my dad never surprised me like that again!"

Then we went on to make a Chinese yo-yo--a "surprise" craft of our own. As we finished up our craft, one of the little girls in the group came up to me and gave me a big hug. Looking up at me with concerned eyes, she asked, "Was your daddy always that mean?"

!!!

I couldn't help but laugh! Jesse just about died when I told him. My dad is one of the kindest, most compassionate men I know, and it didn't even occur to me that the kids would think of it as a mean action! I was careful for the rest of the day that when I used that story with each group, they knew my daddy loved me very much!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Jesse and I got new phones today. The guy at our Verizon store was so helpful. He helped us get great deals on our new phones, and even figured out a way to save us $30 on our monthy bills. So exciting!

My handsome guy and I bounced back and forth between two phones for a long time. At first we both liked the same one, then we unanimously switched over to the other, then we realized that it would be difficult to have the exact same phone (can you imagine if he drove all the way to work--30 mins--only to realize he had my phone instead of the one with all of his work contacts?).

We both had Razrs when we were dating, and we thought it was super cute to have matching phones...until I left for the weekend with the wrong one. We're smarter now. Sometimes =0)

Anyway, we finally decided on different phones. His only came in black, but I had two choices: black, or red. Being the conservative girlie I am, I leaned toward the black...until I realized that it had weird orange plastic parts randomly on the keypad. Halloween, hello? But then...the red was so red! I can't think of a single thing that I own that's red.

Now, there's nothing wrong with accessorizing with color. I love color! I think that if the phone had been pink, or purple, or blue, I would have gone for it in a instant. Red is way more bold. More bold than I usually think I have the guts to be.

But you know what? Even though I got cold feet as the Verizon guy was loading my phonebook onto my new phone and nearly made him run back to the warehouse for a different one, I walked out of that store with a red phone.

A bold, bright, glimmery red.

At least it will be easier to find at home when I'm not wearing my glasses.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

This is my 100th post on Happy Homemaker Me. I've thought for months about a special way to celebrate my 100th post, but couldn't think of anything as special as sharing my newest bit of exciting news.

Welcome to the world, beautiful little Chloe!

My friend Dalia had her baby on June 9th. Such an exciting time!

Dalia, Emilie, Stephanie and I have been friends since our days as teachers at Turtle Rock Preschool.

We were all texting back and forth while Dalia was at the hospital.

As soon as we got word that Chloe had been born, Emilie texted me:"Beth! We're Aunties!!!"

That's the way we feel. We're sisters!

(Halloween Party at the Preschool 2007--A groupie, a hippie, and Snow White)

Hanging out off duty :-)

Our precious little classroom

February 2008

Dalia and Emilie at Doll's baby shower last month

compromising heights :-)

Emilie, Stephanie, me, and Dalia--spanning five years of friendship!

(Emilie and I met when we worked together for a private family in 2005. The next year, we were working together again at the same preschool!) Stephanie and Dalia came soon after, and the four of us were unseparable during those days. Such sweet memories!

I've made so many new friends since Jesse and I moved two years ago...but it's always so wonderful to see old friends again and realize that nothing has really changed (besides marriages and babies, of course!)

Beautiful girls!

We all had so much fun at Doll's shower. We hadn't been able to get all four of us together at once in the last two years. It was a very special day!

Dalia's cheer squad (oohing and ahhing as she opened her gifts!)

Doll, Em, and Steph, I love you girls so much! I'm so thankful that God put us in the same school to work together with joy in our little classrooms so long ago. I'm even more thankful for the friendships we still enjoy today! You are a blessing to me ♥

It's so exciting to see your closest friends moving on to new stages of life. I still can't believe that Dalia has a baby...I can't wait to hold her!!!

My smiles for the day:

Sweet little Chloe, less than a day old...wearing the onesie I made for her!

She'll grow into it :-)

And now, a week later! Look at the adorable, smiley munchkin!

Dalia, if your baby is missing after I come and visit, you'll know why!!!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Our anniversary trip was so wonderful! It was just what we needed...time away from everything around here, time to just be together, time to relax and pretend that schedules and work don't exist, time to explore, to laugh, to enjoy the pure beauty of what being in love with your best friend really is.

I have soooo many pictures (589, to be exact) that I'll be going through and uploading as I have time (on OUR blog, not this one, so look there!).

Jesse is at work today, preparing for VBS next week. We're hitting the ground running! Jesse leads VBS, and I'm in charge of all the craft projects for it, so next week will be a blur! On top of all of that, I'm also starting my summer job on Monday--teaching three math courses a day! Yipes! It's at the school I've been working at all school year, so I know and love the kids, and am thankful for work! Not sure how I ended up with math, though. I think God is laughing at me.

I'm still on clouds after our trip, and having a hard time coming back to earth. I wish all the laundry could do itself! I should have taken a picture of our landfill's worth of clothing and camping gear that I have to do today. Oh well, it's a good day for music, mindless house-cleaning, and lots of reminiscing about our wonderful trip! Can't wait to share our pictures with you!

The first Sunday in June was a really hard day for me. I found out that day that I hadn't been hired for a teaching position I had been praying about for months. It had seemed so perfect, and I was crestfallen when I heard the news. The worst part about it was that the reason I wasn't hired is because I'm not "Lutheran" enough. I didn't go for a Lutheran Teacher Certificate (additional Lutheran theology courses) while at Concordia because I didn't know that I was going to be a Lutheran after graduation. It was something that never even occurred to me until I fell in love with Jesse. By then, I could either choose to stay in school for another year, or get married right after graduation. I'm happy with the choice we made!

But still...to be denied a position because of that stings. Especially when I've struggled so in the past two years to feel like I belong as a Lutheran. I've worked so hard to be a part of our church, to serve alongside my husband, to help where I can.

But I'm not Lutheran enough. To teach children multiplication and how to write a paragraph? Really...

Kate came by that day. She had left her cellphone charger at our house, and her phone had died. We sat in the den together watching movies, and she did her best to cheer me up.

At one point, she asked, "Have you baked cookies or anything lately? I'm craving something homemade."

I said no, and that I was sorry...and that I didn't feel like baking today. She asked if she could.

An hour and a half later, she came out of the kitchen with a smile. In her hands was a chocolate cake set on one of my special occassion charger plates. She had written in blue icing across the top, "We Appreciate Beth."

It was one of the sweetest gestures she could have made! Her simple act of love brought a smile to my face and we enjoyed cake and ice cream until Jesse came home (then he got to eat some, too!)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Kate's here with me this afternoon, and the only thing on tv was the movie Rent. Kate had never seen it before, and I hadn't seen it since my roommate Kim absolutely killed it for me with her obsession over it.

Here's a snippet of our conversation:(at the part when cross-dresser Angel is dressed up like a Zebra Santa Girl singing "today for you, tomorrow for me")

Kate: Why are all these people so ugly?

B:They all have AIDS. They're dying.

K: So we're watching a musical about ugly people who are dying?

B: Prettttttttty much.

K: They should change the premise of this entire movie. No lesbians, no ugly people, no AIDS, no dying. And no singing. THAT'S what would make this a good movie.

I found this almost a year ago, and it's been on my bedside table ever since. I love picking it up and reading it when I'm discouraged, lonely, or needing reassurance. It's a constant reminder of my dad's love for me, but also, of my Heavenly Father's. (That's why "A Letter from my Father" can be taken both ways.)

My dad gave it to me six years ago. I don't even remember the occassion, but since it's dated "13 VI '04" as only my dad would write it, I know that it was given to me right after graduating from high school.

I love that he used Scripture, paraphrasing it so that the God-inspired words in the Apostle Paul's letter feel as if they were written directly to me.

Sweet Princess B,

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you, from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

For it is only right for me to feel this way about you, because I have you in my heart. For God is my witness, how I long for you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your patient spirit be known to all. The Lord is near.Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Finally, Bethany, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good reputation, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, pratice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Princess, Your mother and I pray for you daily. We look forward to hearing the details of your journey. We will miss you, but our joy will be intensified when you come home. It is my joy to remain your Daddy, always.